Dell UltraSharp U2713HM

This article first appeared in HWM Nov 2012.

Paying A Premium Price For Premium Picture Quality.

The U2713HM is a new 27-inch addition to Dell’s popular UltraSharp desktop monitor family. This particular model features an IPS panel with LED backlighting. Its 27-inch screen has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. In terms of looks, the Dell U2713HM is a plain-Jane. The matte-black finish and silver highlights don’t do much to appeal to the eye. Nevertheless, the monitor is easy to install, requiring nothing more than slotting the base into the grooves at the back of the panel itself. As with most of Dell’s UltraSharp line, this display lets you adjust height, tilt as well as swivel.

Boasting an impressive number of digital and analog ports such as HDMI, VGA, DVI, DisplayPort 1.2 and USB 3.0, there are a myriad of options to connect the monitor to other devices aside from your computer. Unfortunately, the U2713HM isn’t smart enough to detect active inputs, so you’ll need to select the right input manually via On-Screen Display (OSD) controls, navigated by four buttons on the right hand side.

Out of the box, the U2713HM showcased a warm color palette with an over-emphasized contrast. After running through calibration, only minor tweaks were required to bring the display to a neutral level. Our final settings were a Brightness of 67, and Contrast at 70. Our calibration process revealed an impressive black luminescence of 0.64cd/m2 and a white luminescence of 343.8cd/m2. As can be expected from IPS panels, screen uniformity was impressive with just a maximum variance of 4 per cent at the corners, measured at IRE of 100 per cent.

This uniformity and the U2713HM’s good black luminescence definitely came in handy when viewing Tim Burton’s animated classic Corpse Bride. The uniform, dark and deep blacks made for enjoyable watching. Overall, the neutral representation of colors meant that this Dell monitor excelled throughout our HD content testing.

Switching over to the DVD portion of our testing, the display continued to impress. With X-Men: The Last Stand, high action and movement intensive scenes were delivered without the presence of artifacts. In addition, the monitor kept a handle on noise without sacrificing any of the details.

We can state without a doubt, the performance of the U2713HM is top notch. USB 3.0 ports and IPS panels also means that it is sporting some of the latest technologies too. Only its mundane looks stop it from completely justifying its premium price-tag of S$999. If you can overlook that though, you do get excellent picture quality and performance for the money spent.